Trop Rock

The country band formed in January 2015 and promptly started practicing, playing shows, and recording music. Their biggest moment came in September when they released the song “Down In Cabo San Lucas.”

Inspired by the Mexican vacation destination, the song struck a chord in the Cabo San Lucas area. Released almost exactly a year after Hurricane Odile devastated the beach town, the song came just in time for the community’s first big tourism push since the storm. When local media outlets found the song, they featured it all over and, at least in Cabo San Lucas, SpringTown had a radio hit.

“We were not aware when we wrote it that Hurricane Odile had taken out much of their tourism in 2014, and they were rebuilding their tourism,” says Cindy Tucker, SpringTown’s lead singer.

“Down in Cabo San Lucas” has become so popular that it’s being pirated and given away for free on websites that support area tourism. To the members of SpringTown, though, it’s just garnering them more attention. In fact, the band now has almost as many fans in Mexico as it does in Missouri.

“We think that might fuel the popularity of the song, especially down there,” says Michael Tucker, the group’s bassist. “I know it’s increased the traffic on our Facebook page. The fan base is in two factions: the Missouri fan base and a lot of new Mexican followers.”

Michael and Cindy are a couple and the core members of SpringTown, along with vocalist Sherry Neill, drummer Marty Neill, and lead guitarist Derek Compton.

“There’s two married couples and one outsider,” Cindy says, laughing.

Derek Compton is no odd-man-out, though. The guitarist joined the Springfield-based band after leaving the Cole Porter Band, and his playing gives the band’s live sound a grittier, country rock aura. However, until this point, the band’s recorded music is self-described trop rock, sounding somewhere between Kenny Chesney and Miranda Lambert. A lot of that stems from Cindy, who grew up in Los Angeles before moving to the Springfield area when she was in middle school.

“I have some beach roots and some country roots,” Cindy says. “I kind of wanted to incorporate both of those roots into my music.”

SpringTown definitely sounds more Southern than Southern California. Attend a concert, and you’ll understand. While performing, the band has a striking resemblance to Alabama-based country rockers Little Big Town, but the name had no influence on SpringTown.

“It’s just our neat, little nickname for Springfield MO,” Michael says. The band is currently working on new music and hopes to have a follow-up to “Down in Cabo San Lucas” out soon, and this time SpringTown won’t be shying away from rocking too much. The song they’re working on right now is called “You Can’t Tame A Cowboy.”

“I have a very close friend who got herself involved with a cowboy, and it didn’t work out,” Cindy says. “I thought, ‘You can’t tame that boy; he’s wild.’ ”

The band plays all over Missouri. Keep an eye out for touring dates and new music, including “You Can’t Tame A Cowboy,” on Facebook and at springtownmusic.com.